Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge to meet employees union to discuss IT layoffs

The IT sector in the last few months has seen massive layoffs with many companies such as Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, Capgemini and a few others reportedly sacking a large number of employees. While these IT giants refuted these reports and said the layoff plans were unfounded, the employees had a different story to tell.

After all that has been said and discussed, Karnataka IT minister Priyank Kharge has told the All India IT Employees Association that he will meet them "soon" and discuss the issues that they have been facing. Speaking about the woes of the IT employees, who have said that they have been laid off, Kharge told PTI: "We are here to listen to them and will do all possible to help them."

Kharge also explained that the government will look into the issues that the employees, as well as the companies, have been facing and find a solution accordingly. He explained that the government with even help the employees with legal assistance if the need arises.

The decision to meet the association comes after AIITEA President Syed Muqueemuddin requested Kharge for a meeting so that they could discuss the matter and take measures to sort out the issue between the IT giants and the laid off employees. "We seek your earliest availability for a meeting to brief you on the current situation so that the government can take appropriate corrective actions as may be required," Muqueemuddin said in the email to the IT minister.

Muqueemuddin also explained that if the employee organisations put up a united front and urge the government for action, things will be sorted out sooner. "This will give government a sense about the problems faced by IT companies and employees in the presence of IT captains and management of companies," he explained.

"While not everything is bad with this industry, the absence of appropriate regulations and watchdogs in the form of unions or associations has led to a situation that unscrupulous elements continue to cause severe and unrepairable damage to the very same industry that contributes significantly to the GDP of our country."

Meanwhile, Union minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad believes that the layoff numbers are exaggerated when Nasscom has claimed that the industry added 6 lakh jobs in the last six years.

He also revealed that he is likely to meet the IT giants soon, where he will talk to them about the plans regarding digital India. "I have decided to call a meeting, of all the major industry players in the field to give a roadmap about the promising prospects of the emerging $1-trillion digital economy. I have asked for the second or the third week of June," he told the Economic Times.